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Adults:

Humanae Vitae

by Pope Paul VI

The papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (On Human Life) made headlines worldwide. Many talked about the encyclical when it was issued in 1968, but few actually read it. Why is it perhaps the most controversial document in modern Church history?

On Human Life combines Humanae Vitae with commentary by popular and respected Catholic authors Mary Eberstadt, James Hitchcock, and Jennifer Fulwiler in order to address this question and to shed light on the document’s enduring wisdom.

Humanae Vitae is Pope Paul VI’s explanation of why the Catholic Church rejects contraception. The pope referred to two aspects, or meanings, of human sexuality-the unitive and the procreative. He also warned of the consequences if contraception became widely practiced-consequences that have since come to pass: greater infidelity in marriage, confusion regarding the nature of human sexuality and its role in society, the objectification of women for sexual pleasure, compulsory government birth control policies, and the reduction of the human body to an instrument of human manipulation. The separation of sexuality from its dual purpose has also resulted in artificial reproduction technologies, including cloning, that threaten the dignity of the human person.

Although greeted by controversy and opposition, Humanae Vitae has continued to influence Catholic moral teaching. St. John Paul II’s popular “theology of the body” drew deeply on the insights of Paul VI. Pope Benedict and now Pope Francis have upheld the long-standing teaching, and a new generation of Catholics, as well as non-Catholics, is embracing the truths of the encyclical.

Laurus

by Eugene Vodolazkin

It is the late fifteenth century and a village healer in Russia is powerless to help his beloved as she dies in childbirth, unwed and without having received communion. Devastated and desperate, he sets out on a journey in search of redemption. But this is no ordinary journey: it is one that spans ages and countries, and which brings him face-to-face with a host of unforgettable, eccentric characters and legendary creatures from the strangest medieval bestiaries. Laurus’s travels take him from the Middle Ages to the Plague of 1771, where as a holy fool he displays miraculous healing powers, to the political upheavals of the late-twentieth century. At each transformative stage of his journey he becomes more revered by the church and the people, until he decides, one day, to return to his home village to lead the life of a monastic hermit – not realizing that it is here that he will face his most difficult trial yet.

Laurus is a remarkably rich novel about the eternal themes of love, loss, self-sacrifice and faith, from one of Russia’s most exciting and critically acclaimed novelists.

A Bloody Habit

by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson

It is 1900, the dawn of a new century. Even as the old Queen’s health fails, Victorian Britain stands monumental and strong upon a mountain of technological, scientific, and intellectual progress. For John Kemp, a straight-forward, unimaginative London lawyer, life seems reassuringly predictable yet forward-leaning, that is, until a foray into the recently published sensationalist novel Dracula, united with a chance meeting with an eccentric Dominican friar, catapults him into a bizarre, violent, and unsettling series of events.

As London is transfixed with terror at a bloody trail of murder and destruction, Kemp finds himself in its midst, besieged on all sides—in his friendships, as those close to him fall prey to vicious assault by an unknown assassin; in his deep attraction to an unconventional American heiress; and in his own professional respectability, for who can trust a lawyer who sees things which, by all sane reason, cannot exist? Can his mundane, sensible life—and his skeptical mind—withstand vampires? Can this everyday Englishman survive his encounter with perhaps an even more sinister threat—the white-robed Papists who claim to be vampire slayers?

The Spark of Faith

by Fr. Wojciech Giertych, O.P.

Faith is essential to our spiritual growth yet, too often, good Catholics hold misconceptions about faith’s meaning or role – misconceptions that can lead to spiritual stagnation.

In these pages, Fr. Wojciech Giertych, OP, Theologian of the Papal Household, corrects prominent errors and clearly articulates what faith is, how it works, and how it may expand, or wither, within our soul.

He explains that the initial moment – the spark – of faith which ignites our entire spiritual life comes first from God. Because faith is a divine gift that is alive, we can explore the laws of its development and learn the principles of its nourishment in order to fully live a life of faith that influences our intellectual and moral life.

Fr. Giertych’s moving and practical reflections on the spiritual life bring ancient wisdom to bear on our modern age, teaching what it really means to have and grow in faith. You’ll come to understand the proper relationship between faith and reason, and you’ll deepen your understanding of the role of prayer in the life of faith.

The Spark of Faith will help you focus your attention on God as the fundamental source of all the spiritual goods we need and cherish.

Fr. Giertych has served as the Theologian of the Papal Household for two popes. His is wisdom you can trust.

Reflection on the Christian Life

by Anthony Esolen

In our hearts, we know that every event in our lives is Providential and that each of us plays a critical role in the unfolding of the story God has written. We believe that God’s will is anchored deep within our soul, and so too is the desire to know it and to live it.

In these pages, acclaimed Catholic author Anthony Esolen claims that the story of your life has already been written — and can be discovered — by considering the life and person of Jesus. Only in God does the world possess meaning, and therefore only in relation to God are our lives genuine stories.

Here, Esolen offers a brilliant reflection — in ways that only he can — upon what it means for any of us, and for all of us together, to dwell in a world of stories. And he shows how we can take events in the life of Christ as the touchstone for all that happens to us on our journey from time to eternity.

Indeed, this book will finally awaken in you the unshakable confidence that despite even the tragic stories of this life, the good things you’ve known and loved are not gone forever: all that is lost will be found; all will be restored; all will be perfected. Truly, there will be “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21:1).

Like the star that led the Magi to Jesus, the wisdom in these pages will lead you to Christ. It will instill in you hope that increases every step of your way.

Thirsting for Prayer

by Jacques Philippe

“What the world most needs today is prayer. It is prayer that will give birth to all the renewals, healings, deep and fruitful transformations we all want for society today…. I am more and more convinced that everything comes from prayer and that, among the calls of the Spirit, this is the first and most urgent one we should respond to.”

Many have already benefited from Fr. Jacques’ best-selling book on prayer, Time for God. In Thirsting for Prayer Fr. Jacques revisits some of the themes covered in that book and develops new insights that are both profound and practical. These reflections guide us with simplicity on the path to intimacy with God, helping us to develop an actual taste for personal prayer. This “school of prayer” opens us up to the encounter with God that transforms us from within.

Out of The Silent Planet

by C.S. Lewis

The first book in C. S. Lewis’s acclaimed Space Trilogy, which continues with Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, Out of the Silent Planet begins the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom. Here, that estimable man is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice, and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Once on the planet, however, Ransom eludes his captors, risking his life and his chances of returning to Earth, becoming a stranger in a land that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a mysterious and suspenseful tour de force.

The Unaborted Socrates: A Dramatic Debate on the Issues Surrounding Abortion

by Peter Kreeft

Is abortion a woman’s right? When does human life begin? Should we legislate morality? What would happen if the Socrates of old suddenly appeared in modern Athens? Peter Kreeft imagines the dialog that might ensue with three worthy opponents–a doctor, a philosopher and a psychologist–about the arguments surrounding abortion. Kreeft uses Socratic technique to strip away the emotional issues and get to the heart of the rational objections to abortion. Logic joins humor as Socrates challenges the standard rhetoric and passion of the contemporary debate.

Mr. Blue

by Myles Connolly

J. Blue is a mysterious man. Charming and carefree, he goes from rags to riches after the inheritance of an unexpected fortune, only to forgo money and power for the love of Lady Poverty. This life of service leads him to embrace fully his Christian faith-loving the unlovable, instructing the ignorant, and remembering that it is by grace that we are saved.

In this new edition of Myles Connolly’s 1928 novel, which features a special Preface by Connolly’s own daughter, readers can again encounter the mystery of “Mr. Blue.” Stephen Mirarchi’s Introduction places the book in historical context and explains its literary structure, and his exhaustive Notes reveal Connolly’s sharp command of his craft. Readers will see more clearly than ever before how “Blue made one believe almost anything is possible,” especially a life of joyful self-giving.

The Ninth Hour

by Alice McDermott

A magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writers-a powerfully affecting story spanning the twentieth century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American community in Brooklyn.

On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens the gas taps in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove-to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his pregnant wife-“that the hours of his life belong to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Savior, an aging nun appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child.

We begin deep inside Catholic Brooklyn, in the early part of the twentieth century. Decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence. Yet his suicide, although never spoken of, reverberates through many lives and over the decades testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations.

The characters we meet, from Sally, the unborn baby at the beginning of the novel, who becomes the center of the story to the nuns whose personalities we come to know and love to the neighborhood families with whose lives they are entwined, are all rendered with extraordinary sympathy and McDermott’s trademark lucidity and intelligence. Alice McDermott’s The Ninth Hour is a crowning achievement by one of the premiere writers at work in America today.

The Flying Inn

by G.K. Chesterton

An exuberant man as well as a prolific and gifted writer, G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) was a man with very strong opinions – and extremely capable of defending them. In this hilarious, satirical romp, Chesterton demonstrates his intense distrust of power and “progressives,” railing against Prohibition, vegetarianism, theosophy, and other “dreary and oppressive” forces of modernity.

In a spirited response to the government’s attempt to curtail alcohol sales, Humphrey Pump (called Hump) – a pub owner in the fishing village of Pebblewick – takes to the road in a donkey cart. Accompanied by Captain Patrick Dalroy, a crimson-haired giant with a tendency to burst into song, Hump provisions the cart with a cask of good rum, a giant round of cheese, and the signpost from his pub, The Flying Inn. Together, the two men extend good cheer to an increasingly restless populace as they attempt to evade Prohibition. In a journey that becomes a rollicking madcap adventure, the two travel round England, encountering revolution, romance, and a cast of memorable characters. Sure to receive an enthusiastic welcome from Chesterton fans, this new edition of an old classic will also appeal to anyone who enjoys a humorous, well-crafted tale.

The Awakening of Miss Prim

by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera

In this #1 international bestseller, a young woman leaves everything behind to work as a librarian in a remote French village, where she finds her outlook on life and love challenged in every way.

Prudencia Prim is a young woman of intelligence and achievement, with a deep knowledge of literature and several letters after her name. But when she accepts the post of private librarian in the village of San Ireneo de Arnois, she is unprepared for what she encounters there. Her employer, a book-loving intellectual, is dashing yet contrarian, always ready with a critique of her cherished Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott. The neighbors, too, are capable of charm and eccentricity in equal measure, determined as they are to preserve their singular little community from the modern world outside.

Prudencia hoped for friendship in San Ireneo but she didn’t suspect that she might find love-nor that the course of her new life would run quite so rocky or would offer challenge and heartache as well as joy, discovery, and fireside debate. Set against a backdrop of steaming cups of tea, freshly baked cakes, and lovely company, The Awakening of Miss Prim is a distinctive and delightfully entertaining tale of literature, philosophy, and the search for happiness.

Kids:

Before I Was Me

by Frank Fraser

Before I was me, just before I was born, I asked God, “Who will I become?””Oh, my little one,” He replied, “I have great plans for you!I have chosen you to bea very important person whom I will always love.” Thus begins a charming odyssey of self-discovery, as, in conversation with God, the child imagines himself as a variety of fun careers!

Jesus Stories from the Bible

by Magnificat

Five beautifully illustrated and imaginatively told stories about Jesus to captivate a child’s heart and stir a desire to know more about our Savior, the Son of God who came to offer eternal life:

The Birth of Jesus | In the Jerusalem Temple | The Calling of the Disciples | Jesus Heals | From Death to Life

The Perfect Blindside

by Leslea Wahl

He’s an egotistical snowboarder with a silver medal.

She’s a judgmental honors student with a flair for photography.

Slashed tires…. False accusations…. A coded message…. When all they can see is each other’s flaws, how can Jake and Sophie work together to figure out what’s really been happening at the abandoned gold mine?

Follow Sophie and Jake into secret tunnels as they unravel the mystery and challenge each other to become who God wants them to be.

George Washington: His Legacy of Faith, Character, and Courage

by Demi

In this beautifully illustrated book, children will learn the epic story of George Washington, the father of our country, and be inspired by his strong faith, character, and courage. They will discover that the animating force of his heroic life was a deep, abiding faith and trust in God.

Captivatingly illustrated with lovely water colors, this book begins with interesting facts about Washington’s ancestors, who had been involved with important key moments in British history, and the story of his forefathers who then came to the United States.

We learn about the life of young George growing up in Virginia and how he developed the skills needed for farming, hunting, horse riding and self-defense. It shows how he was devoutly religious from the time of his youth.

It tells about his great military career and leadership, with many heroic moments in battles, capped by leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War for America’s independence. And then bringing unity, strength and growth to our new country with his being elected as America’s first President.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

by Callista Gingrich

Ellis the Elephant dives back into history! In Yankee Doodle Dandy, the third installment of this New York Times bestselling series, America’s favorite time traveling pachyderm is back, teaching kids (and parents!) about the American Revolution.

In Sweet Land of Liberty and Land of the Pilgrims’ Pride, Ellis the Elephant explored pivotal moments that shaped American history. Now Ellis is back, and eager to learn about America’s most beloved patriots and their courageous fight for independence. Traveling through time, Ellis the Elephant encounters the Sons of Liberty, Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, the Founding Fathers, Betsy Ross, and more.

Authored by Callista Gingrich and illustrated by Susan Arciero, Yankee Doodle Dandy educates and entertains as Ellis the Elephant experiences the American Revolution. With beautiful illustrations and charming rhymes, Yankee Doodle Dandy is a must read for young and old alike who want to know how America became a free and independent nation.

The Courage of Sarah Noble

by Alice Dalgliesh

In 1707, young Sarah Noble and her father traveled through the wilderness to build a new home for their family. “Keep up your courage, Sarah Noble,” her mother had said, but Sarah found that it was not always easy to feel brave inside. The dark woods were full of animals and Indians, too, and Sarah was only eight!

The true story of Sarah’s journey is inspiring. And as she cares for her father and befriends her Indian neighbors, she learns that to be afraid and to be brave is the greatest courage of all.